Governments VII

French gas stations hit by blockades, PM says reserves enough to cope. NSA Gitmo Link Reveals Entire Intelligence Community Corrupted. Get short URL WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Revelations that National Security Agency (NSA) officials took part in interrogations at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay indicated that the entire US intelligence apparatus was involved in illegal practices, ex-Judge Advocate General lawyer Todd Pierce told Sputnik.

"This shows that our entire intelligence community with no exceptions corrupted itself with illegal activity," Pierce, a historian and expert on military law said on Thursday. According to internal NSA Signals Intelligence Directorate documents released by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden this week, NSA personnel participated with US military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

This idea, even if marginal, marks a major departure for Japan, a country that has forsworn nuclear weapons following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII. "With the perfect right to collective self-defense, we should debate whether our troops can completely cover the needs of our own country," Matsui told reporters. In 2011, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara urged Japanese authorities to develop nuclear weapons.

These Six Facts Expose the American Military’s Coming Collapse. Get short URL According to The National Interest, the gradual decrease in military spending by a whopping 25 percent over the last five years has led to erosion of the American armed forces.

The news outlet made a chart of six top revelations by military authorities that point to the horrifying scale of problems the nation’s army is now facing. Marine Corps’ Aircraft Grounded in Droves The US Marine Corps revealed that two-thirds of the branch’s 276 F/A-18 Hornet strike jets had been grounded because of a lack of financing and equipment weariness.
‘Biblically wrong’: Oklahoma lawmakers urge Obama’s impeachment over transgender bathrooms — RT America. Lawmakers in Oklahoma have introduced legislation calling for President Barack Obama to be impeached because of his administration’s support for transgender bathrooms.

Another bill calls for a declaration of emergency in the state. In a measure called Senate Concurrent Resolution 43, Oklahoma lawmakers accused the Obama administration of overreaching its authority by issuing a directive last week stating that US schools risk losing federal funding if they don’t allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
‘Extend American power’: Foreign policy establishment doubles down — RT America.

The new generation of Americans needs to be taught that US hegemony is “vital” to their well-being and global peace, and that it must be extended if world order is to be sustained, says a report by a bipartisan group of foreign policy veterans in Washington.

A working group at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) published a 20-page pamphlet this week, articulating their vision for the next president’s foreign policy. The think-tank was established in 2007, and has worked closely with the Obama administration ever since. Titled “Extending American Power: Strategies to Expand US Engagement in a Competitive World Order,” the report is the culmination of a year-long effort.

The project was co-chaired by Dr. Robert Kagan of the Brooking Institution and James Rubin, former Assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton administration and currently a senior adviser at CNAS. Read more Ukraine, Russia and Brexit ISIS, Syria and Iran. ‘OK, I’m dead’: Two Georgia sheriffs taser handcuffed man to death in shocking video — RT America. Does the US Seek Peace in Syria or to Divide Syria Into Pieces. Loud & Clear Get short URL Russia and the United States chaired a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Vienna yesterday but is the US planning the permanent division of Syria as part of it's so-called Plan B?

NATO military exercises kicked off in Poland yesterday involving more than 1,500 troops.
Here's the Most Dangerous Thing About US Missile Defense in Eastern Europe. NATO officials' explanations aside, everyone, including the Russian president, seems to understand perfectly well that the US's shiny new Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Deveselu, Romania, and the one being built in Redzikowo, Poland are directed against Russia.

The heads of ten Southeast Asian states, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN are gathering for a two-day Summit to discuss further partnerships and to seek ways to boost their cooperation to a “fundamentally new strategic level.” It is the third high-level meeting between Russia and ASEAN and the first to be held on its territory.

Russian Su-27 Fighter Aircraft Can Destroy Three New US F-35s. Military & Intelligence Get short URL In light of that, analyst Bill French wrote a report titled “Thunder without lightning: high cost and limited benefit development program of F-35,” reviewing the new aircraft.

The document states that according to the technical parameters the F-35 is “losing to the fourth-generation fighter MiG-29 and Su-27, developed by the Russian Air Force and used around the world.” The Soviet MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter aircraft are superior in technical performance than the new US fighter aircraft F-35. The conclusion was reached by the American analyst Bill French, working for a non-profit organization National Security Network. “The F-35 is significantly inferior to the Russian Su-27 and MiG-29 in regard to wing loading (exception — F35C), acceleration and thrust-weight ratio (the ratio of thrust to weight of the aircraft),” said the analyst.
Break the Silence About Crimea, Italian MP Says, Demanding End to Sanctions.

Poles Fume Over Bill Clinton's Remarks About Poland's 'Putin-Like Leaders'
Politics Get short URL On Friday, while campaigning for his wife Hillary ahead of the New Jersey primary at the College of New Jersey, Clinton recalled the US's pivotal role in liberating Eastern Europe from Soviet-style communism, and blasted Poland and Hungary for their 'Putin-like' leaders.
In Bed With the Enemy: Foreign Leaders CIA Helped Bring to Power. Politics Get short URL Other prime cases in point include Iran and Guatemala. Rioters armed with staves shout slogans, during riots in Tehran, August 1953. The 1953 Iranian coup. China says US report hypes up its so-called military threat.

Updated 10:28 pm, Saturday, May 14, 2016 FILE - In this May 6, 2016, file photo, soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy watch as the USS Blue Ridge arrives at a port in Shanghai. Seeking to calm escalating tensions in the South China Sea, top generals from China and the U.S. spoke by phone Thursday, May 12, 2016, and said they were ready to work out an effective mechanism to prevent confrontation and maintain stability in the region. less. BBC shrugs off Kiev's demand to say 'Russian aggression' instead of 'civil war'
Ukrainian MPs have urged the BBC to stop distorting reality and say “Russian aggression” instead of “civil war” when describing the conflict in the country. The BBC rejected the claim, reserving right to use various terms to “objectively” cover the events.

In a letter to the British Broadcasting Corporation, Ukrainian MPs called on the BBC to make changes in the way it covers news in eastern Ukraine and exclude the phrase “civil war” from their reports on the crisis in the country. On Friday politician Svitlana Zalishchuk from the Subcommittee on Euro-Atlantic Cooperation and European Integration Committee on Foreign Affairs posted a copy of the letter addressed to BBC’s Non-Executive Director, Director-General and Chairwoman of BBC Trust on Facebook. The request came after BBC showcased a film called “The Conspiracy Files: Who shot down MH17” on May 3 addressing the cause of the crash of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014 in Ukraine.
60 more days of emergency in Venezuela as president fears US plots. ‘Coup & farce’: Brazil’s Rousseff vows to fight impeachment with all legal means. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has promised to use all legal means to fight a “fraudulent” impeachment process, stating that when an elected leader is hunted over accusations of a crime they did not commit the proper term for it would be a “coup.”

“I may have made mistakes, but I didn’t commit any crime,” Rousseff said in front of a group of her supporters near the Planalto presidential palace in capital Brasilia. “It’s the most brutal of things that can happen to a human being – to be condemned for a crime you didn’t commit.
Head of TSA addresses retaliation against whistleblowers, long lines at airports — RT America. Brazil’s Dilma Faces Coup: ‘Say Goodbye to BRICS, Say Hello to Washington’

​On Wednesday, the Brazilian Senate will vote on whether to suspend elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff for 180 days, pending an impeachment trial. The proceedings have been dismissed by Brazilian and international analysts as a political coup intended to implant a pro-business government and implement unpopular austerity measures. Many believed the proceedings had stalled earlier this week when, in a surprise announcement, acting speaker of the Brazilian congress, Waldir Maranhao, announced an annulment of the April 17 vote to recommend impeachment proceedings to the Brazilian Senate. Less than 24 hours later, the President of the Brazilian Senate, Renan Calheiros, denounced Maranhao’s call to annul the earlier vote, arguing that the Congress had already abdicated authority to the Senate.
Most corrupt nations on Earth back Cameron’s awkward graft push.

The other three comprise terrorism, migrant and refugee flows, as well as "the collective threats to Israel.
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Middle East Leaders Give Up on Obama, Turn to Putin - US Diplomat. Protests erupt in Athens as parliament adopts new austerity measures. Greek MPs have voted in favor of new austerity measures, including pension cuts, tax hikes, and new taxes on internet and TV.
US-led France ignored reality in Syria, harmed itself with Russia sanctions – frmr French intel boss. The French government ignored its own intelligence in dealing with crises in Ukraine and Syria, and recklessly followed Washington’s lead by joining anti-Russian sanctions, dealing a huge blow to its agriculture, said a former French intelligence boss.

Alain Juillet, former deputy director of intelligence at France’s General Directorate for External Security, accused French authorities of making a range of poor foreign policy choices, such as its pro-rebel stance in the Syrian crisis and anti-Russian response to the Ukrainian turmoil, which he says have proven detrimental to French citizens. Read more “The French were certainly wrong on Syria and Ukraine,” Juillet told Paris Match on Thursday, while citing two possible reasons for the authorities’ policy blunders.
Uk.businessinsider. Story. OTTAWA — New video footage showing Canadian soldiers wearing the Kurdish flag on their uniforms has raised fresh questions about Canada’s mission in northern Iraq and the message it is sending the rest of the country.
Sack your workers and stop asking for bailout – Okupe charges Governors – Daily Post Nigeria.